Policy
8 January, 2008
LSC announce successful completion of tender for £16.6 million in additional civil legal aid
Contracts awarded for 67,000 extra cases
The Legal Services Commission (LSC) has announced the successful completion of the tender for an additional £16.6 million in funding for civil legal aid cases in communities where the need is greatest.
Nearly 400 providers bid for the funding and the LSC is awarding contracts for 67,000 extra cases across five categories of law, in addition to the 850,000 cases budgeted for at the beginning of the financial year.
The categories receiving this new funding are:
- Family and domestic violence: 33,000 cases worth £8.94m
- Community Care: 5,500 cases worth £2m
- Welfare Benefits: 8,428 cases worth £1.5m
- Housing: 7,485 cases worth £1.4m
- Debt: 7,945 cases worth £1.4m
- Employment: 3,885 cases worth £930,000.
The bid round is part of the wider legal aid reforms which aim to direct more resources into civil legal services. This will allow the LSC to offer more advice in certain categories of law in some areas of England and Wales and improve access to legal aid in some rural areas without increasing the overall legal aid budget.
The LSC is awarding contracts to providers based on where the help is most needed. This may involve providers doing outreach work or expanding into new locations.
Commenting on the announcement, the Head of the Community Legal Service, Crispin Passmore said -
'It cannot be right that someone fleeing domestic violence, who may face related problems of debt and housing, should need to go to three different legal providers to get the advice they need. Many do not.
That is why we are commissioning services that mirror how people experience problems and complement our plans to create Community Legal Advice centres and networks offering holistic and joined up legal aid. We wanted to use this extra money to ensure that legal aid is available in the geographic areas and categories of law where it can make the most difference to people’s lives.
Research shows that many people experience multiple civil legal problems at the same time. We want to buy integrated legal services that address these problems, minimising the need for people to be referred from one provider to another.'
For more information see the LSC press release LSC tender puts specialist advice in some communities for the first time.
See also the related rightsnet policy new story -
